WIN2000 shutdown

Hi all, a very strange thing has happaned to my comp.
Well, I was young and inexpirianced and had a Simens-fujitsu comp with PIII 500Mhz. My HD had two partitions one for WIN2000(the main partition) and one for WIN98, as I wasn't aware of the mistake I've earased the main (WIN2000) partition and couldn't boot my comp. anymore. After some time I've managed to newly install WIN2000 on the main partiotion and reboot again but since this time when I turn off my comp it shuts down everything but the main vent (for the power unit) stays on and I get a really nice sign on the screen (you can now shut down your computer...). So what did I do? I formatted the whole HD and it didn't help, so I earased all the partitions and it didn't help. Last week I've baught a new HD and after installing WIN2000 on it I realized I didn't get rid of this problem.
Just ot make things much more complicated I must say that I have another (IBM 1997 3.6GB) HD on the secondary slave with WIN98 installed on it and it shuts down as smoothly as a geased up pig....
Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with my comp?
D.

TO have your computer shut down your computer fully for you, you have to have APCI enabled. To do this you would have to dive into your BIOS and look for something about APCI (i wouldn't touch anything else unless you know how to reset the BIOS from the motherboard) and set to to enabled.

Yes, I will try this, but how do you explain the fact that my other HD CAN do it? And CAN shutt off?
Thank you.
D.

I couldn't find anything called APCI in my BIOS. Does it have any other names? What does APCI means?
Thanks, D.

at a guess Advanced Power Control Interface. If there is nothing about it in your BIOS, search the microsoft website's help section about it

Well, first thank you for giving me the idea to look for staff at Microsoft...it was a good idea. Here is what Microsoft says about it (and it works!) - so simple:



SYMPTOMS
When you try to shut down your Windows XP-based computer, the computer may stop responding (hang), and you may receive the following message:

It is now safe to turn off your computer



CAUSE
This behavior occurs on computers that support the Advanced Power Management (APM) feature. If you use a computers that does not load an Advanced Configuration Power Interface-compliant (ACPI-compliant) hardware abstraction layer (HAL), you receive this message when the shutdown procedure is complete. When you use an ACPI-compliant basic input/output system (BIOS) with the ACPI HAL, the operating system can turn off the power supply.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this behavior:

Click Start , and then click Control Panel .


In Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance , and then click Power Options .


Click the APM tab.


Check to select the Enable Advanced Power Management Support check box, and then click OK .





MORE INFORMATION
Because the standard computer HAL is loaded on computers that only support APM, the computer does not turn off.